You get an email or even a phone call from somebody claiming to be a domain registration agent and they may even ask for you by name. They tell you that one of their clients is wishing to register a domain name very similar to yours – or the same but with a different ending such as .cn, .tw etc but as the trademark owner you have first rights to refusal and would you like to act quickly to protect your intellectual property?

DO NOTHING

It’s a scam. What they are trying to do is to sell you a domain name that is of no use to you and in reality, there is no other company. They may try to put you under pressure and give you only minutes to make a decision. Don’t.

Lets just deconstruct this a little.

You have a company that operates solely in the UK, or the USA or wherever. Do you care that somebody in China wants to register a domain name the same as yours but with .cn on the end? I don’t think so. Does that infringe your intellectual property? No, you have in all probability not registered any trademarks in China. If this mythical company started trading in the UK under your name or a very similar name with a lookee-likee website and domain name, you could in all probability have them for passing-off, i.e. pretending to be you.

What would happen if they did register that domain name?
If they really wanted to, you wouldn’t be asked about it in the first place, they’d just do it.

Conclusion:
Don’t allow yourself to be pressurised into protecting something that doesn’t need it
Don’t be fooled by scammers.